Metal Detecting The Grass Strip Between The Sidewalk And The Streets In Front Of Houses?

[Old Miner Don]

When I lived in Portland Oregon I had a small house built in the early 50's. It was in the NE part of town and most homes were the same vintage in my neighborhood.

We had water meters that were well past the sidewalk on the home owners side of it. I was told by more than one person that the city never installs water meters on home owners property.

So basically the home owners property starts just past the water meter. But many people don't realize that and mistakenly think they're property starts at the curb. But it doesn't.

In most older neighborhoods there's a strip of grass between the curb and the sidewalk and people maintain this as if it's their own. Which is nice of them and probably something the city wants them to do.

But the actual property line starts behind the water meter, which has 2 or 3 feet of grass between it and the sidewalk and then the grass strip between that and the curb.  And a lot of confusion can come up if you just jump out there and start detecting.

While in Portland I belonged to Monte's (R.I.P.) detector club and we discussed this many times and the best way to go about it. A hardhat and safety vest never hurt anything lol.

I don't recall Monte saying anything about asking permission but he wasn't stupid about it either. He nicely educated more than one homeowner about metal detecting in the grass strips and he would show them where their property line was. But he was never arrogant or rude and if the homeowner just really pitched a fit he would just move on. He always carried a loaner detector and many times he offered to let the homeowner use it and he would give them a quickie lesson. Monte loved that.

Another thing is Monte was a expert at pinpointing a target and using a screw driver type probe to find it and he would pop it out of the ground after widening out a little slit above the coin. Of course he had a lesche digger but hardly ever would he cut a plug in someone's lawn that I know of.

He never carried a shovel but had his cane and his detector all the time.

[Clay Diggins]

It's pretty easy to tell where your property boundaries are. Just look at your Title.

Cities and States can't change ownership rights or boundaries without paying the landowner for the property loss (5th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States).

Most public roads, sidewalks, utilities etc. are established as public easements but the government does not buy or own the land underneath the easement.

Sometimes when developers are trying to get approval for a new housing development they will sweeten the pot and dedicate the streets to the city or county.  The other exception is when a road is desired but a private property is in the way. In that situation the city/county/state has to purchase the property.

It's unwise to assume that because your city bought a property that it becomes public property. In almost all cases the property becomes the private holding of the municipal corporation to do with as they wish. This includes parks, municipal buildings and property.

 

[jasong]

Where I live those pieces of land are not easements, they are owned outright by the city (they reserve the right to use them to add road lanes, parking, etc in the future) but the homeowner is required to care for them. I flip houses as a 2nd business and go through a lot of properties, and almost all the houses from the 20's/30's I've bought the lot lines stopped at the sidewalk, not the curb. But I'd be pretty pissed if someone dug into my nice new landscaping without asking, and I'm pro-detecting. In some of the subdivisions starting in the 50's or so, the private property extends to the curb, but often they are missing that strip of grass and it's just sidewalk. 

Property plats also show measurements. Often you can get a plat for an entire subdivision that may not be as accurate as the individual property plat if it's not updated, but it will show how the subdivision was platted in general and usually if an easement exists and where property lines generally extend to for all the properties. In many cases the county assessor will have a GIS online showing property lines too, which is usually pretty up to date. 

[jim tn]

Like Steve and some stated and alluded too, use common sense. I love old curb strips and hunt them frequently. I hunt those around schools, parks, and old fairgrounds, vacant lots in the older parts of town and apartments in older areas. I try and hit them when little traffic is around, like schools on weekends and holidays. HH Jim Tn

[Steve Herschbach]

From https://mynews4.com/on-your-side/on-your-side-iteam/homeowners-on-the-hook-for-sidewalks-in-reno-city-project

News 4 asked Reno Public Works why residents are responsible for sidewalk work.

"Well, a lot of people probably don't realize that the property owners are responsible for the maintenance of the sidewalk and curb and gutter," Honey said.

Residents are also responsible for shoveling their sidewalks and pulling weeds.

"It seems odd that the city owns it, but the people have to maintain it," said resident Joann Bain.

Long story short the city may own it, but I sure would never use that as an idea that I can just do what I want as a detectorist. Not only is the property owner in Reno responsible for maintaining the area, they may have spent a lot of money doing so. The article references work in old neighborhoods and I myself paid out over $2000 to have sidewalk and approach work done as part of a special district assessment. I pay a pretty good water bill every month, and a good chunk of that goes to watering that area. I mow it weekly. If you don't think all of that makes me have a feeling of ownership you'd be dead wrong. So yeah, use some common sense and never argue with property owners. You do that enough and they can simply get the city council to outlaw metal detecting in your entire city. Don't think that can't happen, because it has.

[phrunt]

I would never feel comfortable digging the front strips, here at least they're council owned but they have always been maintained by the home owners, and rightly so, they're an extension of your property really.  If it's an ugly overgrown mess it makes your house look bad, so of course you keep it tidy.  I put a plum tree on mine as I have quite a large one, it's worked out well, the locals and tourists walking past get some free plums, I don't care as I get too much fruit in summer anyway with my 20 or so fruit trees and it looks nice in spring with its blossums. 

If someone was out with a detector dgging holes in it I'd be very annoyed! 

 Plenty of places to detect without small bits of grass in front of everyone's houses, a good way to annoy a lot of people quickly.  And if you must, at least ask first. 

[Steve Herschbach]

I do it myself but look for empty lots or places where the property owners obviously does not care. I have also hit places where the home has been converted to a business so now I'm dealing with a business owner instead of a home owner, and you can be there off hours or holidays so as to not attract attention. Even then I'd not hit a place where it looks like extreme care was being put into the spot by the owner.

[Digalicious]

A very popular YT'er posted a video showing him hunting on a well taken care of curb strip. He was angrily confronted, to which he pushed back with the lame "this is public property" argument.

If that wasn't bad enough, it was disheartening to see that almost all the comments were similar to, "Tell the homeowner to pound sand". I was one of a very few that said similar to, "People take time and effort to maintain curb strips. As such, it's completely understandable that they're going to be pissed by some guy showing up and digging holes in it. What you are doing, shows a complete lack of respect for the homeowners, and is also a good way to get metal detecting banned in that city".

I have occasionally hunted curb strips, but they were in front of businesses in the off hours, and they were full of weeds and dead grass. Incidentally, one of the strips was directly across the street from our police station. Numerous cops saw me, but not one even slowed down, let alone stopped. It might have helped that I was wearing a worker's safety vest and plucked down a few small marker flags on the strip 😁

 

[KD8GIS]

  My take... "Street property" is often measured X amount of feet from street center. I have been told if a city puts new curb and sidewalk in in front of your home you pay half the cost based on sidewalk feet.  Thru the years I have did the area between the sidewalk and curb.  As others, If it's well kept and flowers I just move on. I have had property owners ask my why I haven't asked permission.  I calmly bring up the fact it's street property, BUT If you have a problem with that I will move on. In 40+ years I have had the cops called on me a couple times without any warning.  After telling the Police my rational they have asked me to move on anyway.  I make sure they are aware of property lines. 

Just recently I was doing a curb strip without homes,  A guy with a 150 year home next to where I was walked up to me and (I Thought it might be a problem)  Guy straight out told me (Hey) you want to do my property?  HUM? OK, But show me your property lines.  Be friendly, respect reasonable requests. 

 Strips in towns are often where people put their trash out to be picked up, Making it a landmine of junk.  A person could take a rake to the curb and bag it up. Who would argue with that?   

[cudamark]

The rules here are like what jasong has. The city owns the property but the homeowner is required to maintain it. That goes with repairing/repaving the sidewalk if necessary. That last part is currently being argued as being too much of a strain on the city budget, but, it's pretty expensive to have done by the homeowner too. the permit alone is $2000, and it has to be done by a licensed contractor which adds their fee to the bottom line too. Anyway, I hunt lots of curb strips. I ignore the highly landscaped ones and only hit the ones that look untouched and/or abandoned. I find the nicely landscaped ones to mostly be a waste of time. When the work was done, most of the old targets were dug up and hauled away.